1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording medium for use in thermal transfer printing operations and a hot-melting-type thermal transfer print system for realizing a multiple gradational expression using hot-melting-type ink.
2. Prior Art
To realize a multiple gradational expression using hot-melting-type ink, conventionally available methods are generally a dither method using a plurality of pixels (matrix) for obtaining a multi-gradational image or a thermal concentration method using a special thermal head with a small heat generator for also obtaining a multi-gradational image. (For example, refer to Photographic Industrial Publisher Co. Ltd, IMAGING Part 1, p103-p108)
According to the conventional hot-melting-type thermal transfer printing technologies, there is a problem that using a plurality of pixels may deteriorate the resolution and therefore quality of a resultant image is undesirably lowered. On the other hand, using a special thermal head is not preferable in view of another problem of cost increase.